Shkodran Mustafi says Arsenal must "close their ears" to the speculation around Arsene Wenger's future and think about only what they can control.
Wenger's contract expires at the end of the season and it is not yet clear whether he will stay on at the Emirates.
The Frenchman said ahead of Wednesday's Premier League clash __with West Ham that he will make his decision public "soon".
While speculation continues to mount, Mustafi has told Sky Sports he is "not worrying" about Wenger's future.
"The most important thing is to close the ears and focus on what is happening on the pitch," the defender said.
"We can't focus on the speculation and everything around us. It's the wrong time. We should just focus on what's happening on the pitch.
"Wenger has been here 20 years, he knows what he has to do. Now it's the players who have to go on the pitch and put in the performances."
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There have been suggestions that the uncertainty over Wenger's future has been negatively affecting Arsenal, __with four defeats in their last six Premier League matches seeing them slip seven points off the top four.
But Mustafi said: "If he says he wants to leave or wants to stay, is it really going to help or will it make it worse? Who knows? It's difficult to speak about those things."
Mustafi scored on Sunday as Arsenal twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Manchester City at the Emirates.
Asked about apparently "muted" celebrations after both goals, Mustafi said: "You are reading too much into it. In football there are not things that happen every day so obviously you pick out some little things and make them big, but it's normal.
"Maybe you would celebrate if it was 1-1 and I made it 2-1 and you are winning. Maybe you just want to go back as quickly as possible to keep on the front foot and score to make it 3-2, so not celebrate too much. It's emotion after a goal. Everyone reacts in a way which you cannot explain or read too much into."
With 10 games of the season left to play, a win looks essential for the Gunners when they host West Ham on Wednesday.
The Hammers have lost their last four matches in a row and Mustafi is targeting a confidence-boosting victory.
"It's difficult to make good things happen, but when you reach a good level it's so easy to drop again, and it's the same with confidence," he said.
"You build it up then you lose a few games and it goes down so quickly. You need 20 games to build confidence up and two games to bring it back down.
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"We have to try to build from the game we had against City. We played a lot in their half, and the good thing about it was not just playing in their half, but when we lost the ball we won it back quite a lot in their half. That's really important.
"We are going to play in their half to try to make things happen and then it's important when we lose the ball that we don't open because then it's easy for them to get on the sides and cross.
"We have to win the ball straight back when we lose it or get as quick as possible back together to make it difficult to cross the ball. I think it will be important to not let a lot of crosses into the box because defending crosses is difficult."
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